The debate for restoration of the death penalty in Australia has been ongoing since the 1985 abolishment of capital punishment in Australia

The debate for restoration of the death penalty in Australia has been ongoing since the 1985 abolishment of capital punishment in Australia. Following the abolishment of capital punishment, Australia has not seen any rise in the number of homicides and murders, suggesting that execution does not deter criminals. Each time another heinous crime is committed, public outcry reignites the debate on the reintroduction of the death penalty. In Australia today many obstacles are preventing the restoration of the death penalty including the high cost of capital punishment and the history of innocent people being executed however recent political leaders have mentioned that the return of the death penalty could be appropriate. The death penalty was abolished in Australia decades ago but the battle against capital punishment was left incomplete.
Since the abolishment of the death penalty in Australia, Australia has seen no dramatic rise to the number of homicides and murders. One of the major fears when abolishing capital punishment was an increasing number of murders. This is evident in the _Australian Institute of Criminology’s article: _”The argument for capital punishment usually hinges on the fear of increasing murder rates. Yet in Queensland, for example, in the decade prior to the abolition of capital punishment (1912-21), there were 131 murders, whereas in the decade following abolition (1923-32) there were 129 murders.”_ (Potas and Walker: 1987)
This information clearly shows that the abolishment of the death penalty did not lead to an increase in homicides and murders in Queensland. _Table 4_ (Potas and Walker: 1987) on the _Australian Institute of Criminology_ article also shows the effects of the abolishment on conviction rates for murder and manslaughter in the major states in Australia. From this graph, it is evident that the abolishment had no major effect on homicide trends in each state with the exception of South Australia. Capital punishment should not be brought back into Australia as execution has not deterred criminals
The death penalty should not be brought back in Australia as it would be the Australian taxpayers that would pay the price as capital punishment is very expensive. Although many would believe that keeping a criminal under supervised imprisonment for life would be more expensive than the death penalty, the truth is that capital punishment is actually very expensive and costs much more than life imprisonment. The Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP) is a human rights organisation which is dedicated to achieving total abolition of the death penalty in Australia.
In an article written by ACADP, it is evident that the procedures are longer in a capital case and _’one single capital case could cost…around $5.5 million and life imprisonment for 30 years costs $1.5 million.’_ (ACADP: 2003) The process of the capital system could be limited however, creating a cheaper alternative for capital trails but this answer would result in a higher possibility of convicting and executing an innocent person.
One of the main advantages of abolishing the death penalty is the reduced risk of executing an innocent person. In the past Australia has seen judicial errors including Australia’s last man hanged Ronald Ryan. Ryan was executed in 1967 when accused for murdering a prison guard when attempting to escape Pentridge Prison. _The Australian’s story on Ronald Ryan states that _”Ryan could not have shot dead a warder during their dramatic escape… because the rifle he was using had jammed”_ (Hughes: 2007) It is now evident for Australia to see that _”the last man hanged in Australia was innocent”_ (Hughes 2007). The death penalty is a denial of human rights and it violates the right to life. The death penalty should not be brought back into Australia because it is neither right nor just to kill an innocent person.
While there are many reasons against the death penalty, the Australian government has continued the argument about the death penalty since the abolishment in 1985. In 2010, the Death Penalty Abolition Bill was debated in Federal Parliament. If passed, it would block any states attempt to bring back capital punishment. Since the debate, the bill has passed so now individual states have no power to reintroduce the death penalty, it is a federal responsibility. Recent political leaders including Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott have mentioned instances where the death penalty might be appropriate. Tony Abbott, the opposition leader at the time, said _’in the case of someone who cold-bloodedly brought about the deaths of hundreds or thousands of innocent people… maybe the only appropriate punishment is death.’_ (Williams: 2010)
From this, it is evident that there is consideration for the death penalty to be brought back in Australia when an indictable crime is committed. Australian surveys also show a movement towards the restoration of capital punishment since in the Australian National University’s 2007 Electoral Survey ‘_44% of people thought the death penalty should be reintroduced”_ (Williams: 2010). This is an excessive increase from 1986 when capital punishment had only just been abolished where a national survey commissioned revealed ‘_only 26% of respondents felt that the death penalty was appropriate”_ (Potas and Walker: 1987). These statistics show that although Australia does not have the death penalty, the majority of the population supports its return.
The advantages of continuing the abolishment of the death penalty have overpowered the advantages of restoring the death penalty in Australia. Although Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott believed that capital punishment may be necessary in some cases, Australia has seen no rise the number of murders after the abolishment of the death penalty, therefore overriding the need to have capital punishment. Arguments such as the high cost for the death penalty and the past executions of innocent people also argue against the restoration of capital punishment. There are more arguments against the restoration of capital punishment so it is evident that the government has made the right decision to abolish the death penalty and not to restore it.